Anyone who recognizes that Israeli-Palestinian peace is vital for Israel's security and viability as a democracy
and a Jewish state must welcome the release -- as a measure that can strengthen and give credibility to the new
negotiating effort -- even as we feel compassion for those for whom these releases awaken terrible memories of
heinous crimes committed against loved ones.

There are good reasons to criticize Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's decision to release prisoners. He had other
options. He could have agreed to curb settlement expansion. He could have assented to what everyone knows is
reality: negotiations and any future agreement are going to be based on the 1967 lines. But for Netanyahu, these
options, both of which conflict with a pro-settlement, Greater Israel agenda - were unacceptable. Nobody was going
to tell Netanyahu what he could or couldn't do on settlements - no matter what the cost.

Thus, Netanyahu's dogged determination to press ahead with settlement construction left prisoner releases as his
only option. It is an option that sows pain and outrage among Israelis, many of whom have apparently forgotten
that, if Israel had lived up to prior agreements (detailed
here), the prisoners in question would have been released long ago. Indeed, it was the failure of successive
Israel governments to live up to their freely-undertaken commitments to release prisoners that left the issue open
through the present day, and that provided Netanyahu an option to avoid taking action on settlements or having to
acquiesce to the 1967 lines as the basis for talks.

Of course, Netanyahu immediately demolished any good faith his action to release prisoners might have generated, by
in parallel going nuclear on settlements. His
actions in recent days, moving forward with more than 3000 new units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and
approving special subsidies and benefits for 90 settlements -humiliated both his Palestinian negotiating partner
and the U.S., as backer of this peace effort. These actions also squandered any good will he might have hoped to
buy in the international community, at a time when his government
is picking a dangerous battle with the EU - a battle that (surprise) prioritizes the settlements and settlers over Israel's own
interests.

During his
previous four years in office, the Netanyahu government adopted settlement policies that appeared designed to
deliberately and systematically undermine the two-state solution. At present, there is every indication that he
plans to resume this same course, now that the peace process is back in motion. Indeed, it seems that Netanyahu
believes, cynically, that prisoner releases gives him more or less a free pass on settlements. Unless something is
done quickly to alter this twisted dynamic - meaning forceful U.S. engagement to put limits on Netanyahu's actions,
including imposing consequences for bad behavior - the prospects for this new peace effort surviving, let alone
bearing fruit, are dimming rapidly.